


The Polus Mission

by strippinfor_eren



Category: Among Us (Video Game), Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Among Us (Video Game) Setting, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Attempted Murder, Bittersweet Ending, Dark, Emotional Manipulation, Eventual Smut, F/F, F/M, Gen, I'll add warning tags as I go, M/M, Murder, Polus (Among Us)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-07
Updated: 2020-11-07
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:13:59
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26874241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strippinfor_eren/pseuds/strippinfor_eren
Summary: Among Us but make it Naruto.A year is up, and The Polus Launch Uranus Space Station has been built by the crew of 10. As the final tasks for the trip home are being completed, the body of Shino Aburame is found by Ino Yamanaka in admin.There is 1 imposter among us, so be careful who you trust.
Relationships: Aburame Shino/Hyuuga Hinata, Dai-nana-han | Team 7 & Rookie Nine, Haruno Sakura/Yamanaka Ino, Hatake Kakashi/Uzumaki Naruto, Nara Shikamaru & Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto & Everyone
Comments: 24
Kudos: 45





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This is inspired by a comic made by seren.sin on TikTok (though this is only similar if you really squint). I've been thinking of writing a "scary" story for October before doing some Kinktober stuff, and I am very excited to write this! I pumped this out in less than an hour (probably noticeable lol), and plan to update every day until we get to who the imposter is. Ships are background mostly, except for Kakashi and Naruto because this is going to be written as their experience buddying up to finish tasks and find the imposter. I can't explain the imposter situation, because that would be a spoiler, but let's just say the lava pit in The Polus lookin kinda sus ;)

The Polus, as the Uranus space station had been dubbed, was the first base to ever be put on the icy planet. It’s crust had been found to be a phenomenally clean source of energy on Earth after the first mission rocket was sent there in 20XI and the crew brought back dozens of samples to be analyzed. Once discovered, a new one-year plan was drawn up, the take-off date said to be the summer of 20XVI. A rocket of supplies was to be sent, filled with metal slabs, pipes, blueprints, and more for the construction of The Polus Launch Uranus Space Station (The Konoha Space Association, KSPA for short, had been hoping for the project to be nicknamed T plus, but everyone ended up calling it The Polus). A second rocket followed not a day after, the crew for the expedition. It was a team of 10, all brand new faces to the astronaut field. People teased them, labeling them Konoha Rookies for being able to nab the mission from the more experienced members.

The team consisted of: Shikamaru Nara, Ino Yamanaka, Choji Akimichi, Kiba Inuzuka, Shino Aburame, Hinata Hyuuga, Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki, and Kakashi Hatake. Each was a genius in their own right, but the smartest could be said to be Shikamaru and Kakashi. Their problem-solving skills were outmatched, as well as the knowledge they possessed about their fields of work.

The plan was successful, the first and second rockets making a safe landing on Uranus, only about 60 yards from one another. Within eight months, most construction finished. The med bay, specimen area, meeting room, vitals room, decontamination rooms, oxygen area, and security room were finished. All that was to be finished was the comms unit, where signals would be broadcasted, as well as the weapons station, which had obvious purposes. The next two months saw that completed. All that was left were light tasks that each member was assigned to do on the last day, before the trip home. A swipe of their ID card here, a sample of their DNA there, and then it was done. Of course, it wasn’t quite that simple and there were a lot more than just two, but the lists were made two months ahead of time, so there would be no what’s what or who’s doing this.

Two months of leisure brought the crew closer together, to the point the station began to feel like a second home. One made just for them. Not enough times were nights spent gathered around the meeting table, laughter filling the air as they played cards, one of the many board games, or gossiped about what KSPA had sent them that day about updates. Sakura would make silly themes for friday nights, and each member would create a presentation to be displayed and they would vote which was the funniest. Kiba would start a game of hide and seek when they were supposed to be working, and everyone would roll their eyes before doing rock-paper-scissors to see who was the seeker. Hinata prepared everyone’s dinner on Monday nights, somehow making it taste like a home-made meal with their little amount of spices to choose from and vacuum sealed meats. Shikamaru challenged others to games of Shogi every now and then, his way of socializing and letting the others know he respected them and cared for them. Ino, when angry, would storm into the lab and gaze through the telescope all day, writing things that she saw down and giving them to the crew later on when she cooled down as her way of apology. Sasuke gushed about his older brother Itachi anytime he could, opening up to the crew about how his mother and father acted like nothing of the sort, and Itachi was the closest thing he had to a parent. Choji, after 9 months, shared from his stockpile of snacks he snuck onto the supplies rocket, happily inviting anyone who caught him munching to a bite. Shino let himself be used as a crutch when a crewmate worked themselves too hard during the construction of The Polus, supporting them to the nearest comfy spot to let them rest. Kakashi read his perverted books without a care for the others' opinions, but put it down and never picked it back up while talking one-on-one with him. And Naruto….

Naruto was their light, cheering them up when someone got homesick. His laughter was contagious, and he helped anyone who needed it, whether or not he had finished his own work yet. He called the others out on their bullshit, pulled silly pranks, and did everything he could to avoid getting medical treatment when someone else needed it more.

It wasn’t until the last day of the mission that things started to go wrong. The reactor began a meltdown, which hadn’t happened since the beginning days of ship testing, the lights had to be fixed what seemed to be every half hour. Communications would go down every hour, making their walkie talkies useless until some brave soul fixed them. The oxygen monitor seemed like it had a glitch in it’s system, getting bad reads and alerting the crew to false depletions of oxygen in their suits (but if they didn’t check it in time then it would cause their oxygen reserve to release the rest of its stored air, which was only enough to last them another week at most the way things were going).

That’s when the body of Shino Aburame was found, white suit ripped to shreds, body in the same condition, slumped over the projection table in the administration room. Ino Yamanaka’s scream was heard around the entire station, even without the walkie talkies.

“SHINO!” Naruto heard Kiba next, probably finding where Ino was first. Naruto ran, leaving the boiler room and getting to Admin the same time Hinata and Shikamaru jogged out of decontamination. Ino was on her knees, hands covering her ears and head to the floor as she cried. Kiba was puking into the trashcan in the upper right of the room, almost making Naruto gag. His eyes landed on the dead Shino, widening in fear, his stomach feeling like it fell to his feet. Shikamaru seemed to be in a similar situation, and Hinata dropped to the floor beside Ino after a whisper of “Shino?”

Not ten seconds later, Choji, Sakura, Sasuke, and Kakashi ran in through the hallway above, barely avoiding crashing into the others. Sakura gasped, eyes tearing up quickly. Sasuke was in a state of shock, eyes blank. Choji blacked out, collapsing in on himself, Kakashi snapping into action to catch him before setting him down, face grim.

It wasn’t until the last day of the mission that Shino Aburame was attacked and killed by something vicious. Something started sabotaging the reactor, causing it to go into a meltdown countdown. Something flipped the switches to the lights so they’d go off every half hour. Something changed the channel for communications every hour so walkie talkies were useless. Something made the oxygen monitor give a bad read, causing the countdown to oxygen release to begin.

It wasn’t until the last day of the mission that _someone_ on the crew killed Shino Aburame in cold blood, and left the body for someone to find as they made their rounds doing tasks for launch preparation.

It wasn’t until the last day of the mission that the crew had absolute faith in one another.


	2. Emergency Meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group takes care of the body and call a meeting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot to mention, but with updates being everyday, chapters will stay in the 1k-2k range to make it easier on me. This fic isn't going to be very long (maybe 10 chapters with the set length), so I hope that's okay with everyone.

A silence rang throughout the base for the remainder of the night, so heavy even Naruto couldn’t bring himself to make a sound. When the tears dried, and the initial shock wore off from them all, they solemnly got to work. Sakura took Hinata and Ino to the beds on the rocket, as the two were almost dead on their feet from crying. Once back, the seven of them (not eight, even though only two were gone. Not eight because Shino is _dead_ _what is going on-_ ) clean up. Kiba and Kakashi gingerly move the body after wrapping it in a blanket one of them grabbed from the med bay, Naruto didn’t know who. Naruto got to wiping the blood away from the panel, scrubbing until his fingers went numb from pressure. The others bustled around him, Shikamaru taking the vomit-filled trash can, courtesy of Kiba, to the trash chute. Sakura picked up the ripped shreds of Shino’s suit that were left in the area, and he could hear her choking up again when the piece with his name tag was found sitting face up on the chair. Naruto wasn’t sure where Choji went, but Kakashi and Kiba made it back before he did.

The sight of Kakashi had Naruto wanting to fall into his arms and take his turn to cry quietly in mourning. But, alas, they still had a little bit of cleaning to do, and then an agreed upon emergency meeting. The rag he was using felt heavy, drenched in the blood of his crewmate (his  _ crewmate, who would do this- _ ) and one of his best friends. A weight settled in Naruto’s chest, thinking back to how he’d watched his childhood best friend, Kurama, die in the hospital from injuries earned in a major car wreck only four years before. The tears came unbidden, blurring his vision and he quickly wiped his eyes with his clean orange glove, grimacing at the rough texture on his face.

Dropping the rag into the bucket of cleaning solution, Naruto left the room and passed Choji on the way out, who was carrying a few water bottles for the rest of them. Naruto shook his head when offered one, going to the med bay to dump the chemicals and clean the rag, if it could be cleaned. His helmet formed around his head as he reached the doors that went outside, and the comfort it brought was overwhelming. With his helmet, he was no longer Naruto. He was Orange, fourth member of the Konoha Rookies. To keep track of what belonged to who, the members were assigned different colors. Shikamaru was dark green, Choji was light green, Ino was purple, Naruto was orange, Hinata was light blue, Sakura was pink (funnily enough), Kakashi was black, Kiba was red, Sasuke was dark blue, and Shino was white.

The air on Uranus was extremely cold, which was why they avoided going outside much now that the base was complete. The entire thing was under a dome to keep the worst of it out, but the chill seeped through the places without a functional roof. Every now and then one of them needed to go out to check on the weather nodes, to make sure they were functioning properly, and it was the least favorite job for every single one of them. Even in his boots, Naruto could feel the cold of the surface in the soles of his feet. It brought a chill through him, and the bucket sloshed a little over the sides. He sighed, thankful he was far enough away from the weather node he was passing that none splashed onto it. The walk to the med bay was short, and the airlock into it felt like it went on for centuries compared. Kakashi and Kiba were there, locking the cryo-chamber that held Shino’s body so it wouldn’t rot before they got to take him home. His helmet unformed, going back into the nano chip that held it while not in use. A sink was in the far left of the room, which was the one they poured anything possibly corrosive down. It led to a vacuum sealer, where they could collect the packets and dispose of them on Earth when they got home.

The cryo-chamber made a loud whoosh as it filled with freezing cold air and frosted the door, so you couldn’t see inside. Naruto watched quietly, throwing the rag into the trash chute, not bothering to attempt washing it. Kiba caught his eyes, looking away quickly and muttering a “later,” while going into the decontamination chamber that led around to administration. Naruto released a breath he didn’t realize he was holding, finally alone with Kakashi.

“Come here,” Kakashi murmured, holding his arms open, suit off because he had gotten blood on it while carrying the body. There was no hesitance as Naruto obeyed, turning into a blubbering mess a few seconds later, His shoulders wracked with sobs, and Kakashi tightened his arms in turn, not holding back his crying either. He walked them to the wall, sliding down so Naruto could sit (and so his own legs wouldn’t give out on him, wobbly as they were). Their walkie talkie’s buzzed with static as one of the crew pressed the button. “Emergency meeting in five minutes,  _ everyone _ needs to be there,” came Shikamaru’s exhausted voice. It was always like that, but it sounded exceptionally so then.

Naruto took a moment more, resting his forehead against Kakashi’s to catch his breath, eyes closed. His gloves were removed, and he slightly opened his eyes while Kakashi checked out his fingers, worried the scrubbing from earlier had rubbed the skin raw in any way. “I was wearing my gloves, don’t worry.”

“Doesn’t mean they won’t bruise or be sore,” Kakashi chided, his eyes gentle as he forced Naruto’s to meet them by lightly tilting his chin up with his hand. “I think someone on the crew did this,” he said after a pause. Naruto’s eyes widened, but it made sense. There’s no other life on the planet  _ except _ for the team. “I think Shikamaru figured that out too.”

  
  
  
  


The meeting started shortly after Kakashi and Naruto arrived, shuffling to their seats. Hinata and Ino were the last to arrive, a little red in the eyes but that was all of them at that point.

“I would just like to start by saying that Shino was our best friend, and we need to focus on this mission like the entire point is to get him home. We don’t want to leave anyone behind, even if they are dead,” Shikamaru stated, the word dead coming out gravely. He cleared his throat before continuing. “I hate to even suggest this, but it’s the only possibility… The only way Shino could have died was one of us killing him.”

No shocked gasps erupted, the Rookies already having come to that conclusion. A variety of expressions emerged, mostly wary, but a few enraged. Naruto was one of the wary, biting his lip and scanning the people (his  _ friends _ but possibly not his friends) in the room. “It’s probably best if we pick up work tomorrow, and take off the second we finish. We don’t want to make Shino wait. But, please keep an eye out for each other,” Hinata spoke up. Her eyes were downcast and dim, an odd look even for the perpetually shy girl. She had been together with Shino, and was likely the hardest hit by his death. It was obvious they were in love from anyone looking in, and Naruto’s heart went out to her. But he knew Sakura and Ino would be the ones checking in on her and making sure she was okay. He turned his head to Shikamaru, who was already looking at him. Naruto nodded to the unspoken question, agreeing to keep an eye out for anything suspicious.

“Let’s go back to our rooms,” Naruto suggested, already pushing his chair back and standing up. “It’s been a long day and we still need to finish our tasks and get home.” Slowly, they trudged to their chambers on the rocket, except for Sakura and Sasuke who went to the kitchen on the station. They’d become an unlikely pair of best friends, and Naruto knew she would be forcing Sasuke to eat (because he hadn’t earlier) before she went to comfort her girlfriend for the night. Naruto waited for Kakashi to finish washing himself off in the station shower (that worked considerably well on the planet. The gravity was akin to Earth, if a little less), laying on the twin bed attached to the wall in his room. It was small, about half the size of a college dorm room, and didn’t have anything more than his few personal belongings and luggage.

Kakashi came in after 12 minutes, carrying some clothing from his own room for the next day. Naruto sat up on the bed, bringing his knees to his chest and resting his chin on them. He watched as Kakashi neatly laid the clothes on one of Naruto’s suitcases, hair sticking to his face from where bits were still wet. Kakashi straightened out, but didn’t move otherwise. “I trust you, Naruto.”

Naruto picked his head up, paying more attention. “Yeah, I trust you, too,” he answered, no waver or question in his voice. Kakashi smiled slightly, motioning with his hand for Naruto to scoot over. He obliged, patting the empty space as invitation. As they lay together, Naruto practically on top of the man so neither would fall off, they could tell neither of them were the killer. Their heartbeats were calm, Naruto’s fluttering every so often when Kakashi moved his hand to pet the blond’s hair. “Can we stick together tomorrow?” Naruto asked, voice edged with drowsiness. Kakashi nodded, carding his fingers through his hair one more time. “That’s probably for the best.”


	3. That's Suspicious

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the next day coming up to a slow start, the crew is on edge. Suspicious movements could lead to possible accusations. Even more so when Kiba finds out how exactly quick escapes can be made.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> School got me fucked up y'all. I'm gonna try and get chapters out as soon as i can get them written from this point on. I haven't found time to just write in a hot second, I'm sorry. I'm also sorry for any mistakes, feel free to point them out as I have no beta!

Instead of the usual laughter that rang around the station, a solemn silence took its place. There was no point to joking around if it delayed the tasks any further, and it seemed to Naruto that even the rowdiest of them (Kiba) was trudging his way through without uttering a word. The crew had only woken up an hour earlier, eaten breakfast, and were on their first half hour of work. Kakashi stuck to Naruto’s side as promised, even when they didn’t have tasks in the same area.

A darkness started to surround the two, and Naruto sighed as he set down the last few wires he needed to reconnect, quickly grabbing Kakashi’s gloved hand before it dimmed completely. “Should we fix it or just wait for someone else to?” He whispered, leaning into the arm that slid around him. A click resounded and the lights came back to life, answering the question for them. Kakashi sighed, pulling his arm back to his side and side-eyeing Sakura as she passed in her pink suit, heading into the tree room to monitor its progress.

_ Why did she come from the bottom so quickly? Was she walking through the dark or did she stand in place outside the doors until the lights came back on? _

“Alright, that was the last wire, wanna check over it?” Naruto asked, pulling Kakashi’s attention. “Hm? No, I’m sure you did it right. Let’s go to the boiler room. I have to unseal the waterways so they don’t clog after we leave.”

The boiler room was directly south from the wire panel they had been at, and within 30 seconds they were in the doorway, Kakashi flipping the switch to the room to shed light. The two large pipes in the back were silent, the red light on the wall meaning they were off. In the corner were jugs of water used to replace the dispenser in the office. The two sigh in unison, knowing just how hard it would be to get the wheels on each pipe to turn, not forgetting the one they had to do outside of the office, which would probably be even harder after being left alone for a year in the cold. “Do you want any help?” Naruto offered, leaning against the wall beside the doorway while Kakashi gripped the first wheel near the top.

Kakashi gave a grunt instead of an answer, pulling the wheel around with difficulty, the grinding metal letting out a screech. Naruto winced, but didn’t need to cover his ears as the sound let up and the wheel turned easily the last few times. It never ceased to amaze him when Kakashi put his strength into action. The man was lithe, but even before working construction in space he had a good amount of body strength in general. A second ear-splitting grating sound came from the other wheel in the room, and that time Naruto did cover his ears because it didn’t stop. He was grateful when the room went silent, a slight ringing in his sensitive ears. To be sure the job was finished, the pair glanced at the light, a bright green even though the pipelines were still silent.

“Just the outside one now,” Kakashi muttered sullenly, just as affected by the squealing if not more Naruto guessed. He hadn’t moved from his spot, adjusting his gloves from where they had slid out of place against the metal. There were footsteps outside the room and they both paused to gauge which way they were heading, not daring to peek into the hallway. They came from further up, so it was either Sakura finished with her task or another crew member coming down to dispose of trash. That or..

Outside, the footsteps continued to fade. Naruto released a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding, sparing a glance at Kakashi before peeking the corner of the doorway, checking for signs of anyone or anything out of place. An arm enveloped Naruto’s waist, pulling him back and out of balance. He sent a glare backwards, lightly swatting the black covered arm away. “I’m fine,” he mumbled. “No one else, no footprints, no blood,” the last confirmation felt heavy, bringing to mind the sickening image of Shino’s body,  _ of Shino’s dead body. Because he died just yesterday- why is he  _ dead _ what happened- there should be  _ ten _ of us not nine- _

Naruto blinked at the muffled snap (the gloves didn’t allow for much of a sound, unfortunately) in front of his face, turning away as he wiped the few stray tears brought on by his spiral. “I can’t be the strong one here, Naru. If you start crying, you know I will follow,” Kakashi scolded lightly, voice scratchy. The night hadn’t been kind to them, with two instances of Naruto being literally kicked off of the bed in reflex, and two more of Kakashi being awoken by quiet sobs from Naruto’s nightmares. No one asked how the others slept, knowing the answer would be no better. Everyone wanted it to be done with, for Shino to be with them, telling them not to push themselves too hard. Offering to bring them to the kitchen for cold water and food.

Food was not on Naruto’s mind at the moment, lest he throw up like Kiba did (though the Inuzuka always had a weak stomach), and he hadn’t seen anyone touch the light breakfast of re-hydrated applesauce that Hinata had brought out of storage. He worried for her, knowing she probably wanted to busy herself with tasks and menial activities to keep from breaking down. Had it been Kakashi.... Naruto inhaled deeply, ignored the look of concern he got, and grabbed said man’s hand to drag him to weapons before they went to the last waterway.

Kakashi stayed silent, allowing the slight manhandling placidly, tightening the grip on the other’s hand. “They assigned you to last minute weapon testing? I bet it was Chouji.”

“Sasuke, actually. Begged me to switch the WiFi reboot with him since his eyes were hurting.”

Sasuke, who wore his blue suit all the time and cleaned it religiously, sometimes had eye problems, stemming from his parents. There was an accident he never went into details on, but it was unspoken that it was the reason Itachi was his favorite family member. Instead of their regular black hue, his eyes would take on a maroon, almost bloody color. The doctors said it was literally blood pooling behind the eyes when they were strained too much, a case they’d never seen before.

It was a serious condition but..

“I think he just didn’t want to do it since it takes so long,” Naruto tacked on, not really caring if that were the case. Sasuke was his best friend, Shikamaru right there beside him in all his lazy glory, and among the trio Naruto was happy to do anything for them. Especially after Kurama. Especially then.

Kakashi hummed in lieu of answer, stealing the office chair at the desk for himself and sitting on it backwards, resting his chin on the back of it. Naruto huffed, bending over to boot up the plasma laser and readying the mouse for aim. Five minutes passed before the first asteroid appeared on the camera, and not even a second later it was destroyed. It went on like that until the final, twentieth asteroid had been shot and the system declared itself calibrated almost 50 minutes later. Communications had gone out twice, and the two knew lights would go off soon.

Dread was prominent in the station, fearing the worst may come when the lights shut out again. Naruto stood straight, popping his back with a groan and shaking out his hand that had been tightly gripping the computer mouse with anticipation. One particular pop in his lower back had him sagging in relief, dropping his arms to his sides and lazily eyeing Kakashi who looked to be taking a nap, head laying on the top instead of just his chin. His arms were wrapped around the back like a koala, hands interlaced to keep them in place. Naruto shook his head, looking to the entrance and seeing the doors had shut in the time it’d taken to finish. His body tensed, for once not thinking it was just a prank by Kiba or Sakura. He hated that he reacted like that to something that used to be funny, to a minor inconvenience. Closed doors meant something could’ve happened outside- someone else could’ve…

Naruto gently shook Kakashi’s shoulder, not waiting for a response as he crept towards the interlocked door. A short sigh was his only warning before there was a weight settling itself against his back, head nuzzling into the crook of his neck. “Don’t tense up so much, it lowers your reaction time.”

“I know, and don’t do that. You scared me,” Naruto pouted, blush hidden in the low lighting. His orange suit almost glowed in the computer light, though. Cons of wearing a bright color, he thought briefly.

“Come on,” Kakashi said into his neck, hair tickling him and making him move away slightly, “we’re gonna finish everything else and finally go home. Remember all the things we talked about?”

Remember? Naruto couldn’t get it out of his head. An apartment complex together, finally, and another cat since Kakashi made two people, and “one cat for two people just isn’t enough Kashi!” A few dozen plants that would probably die if Kakashi even tried taking care of them, and all of it happening in the Netherlands so they could get married if they wanted. Naruto wanted to. Naruto didn’t know if Kakashi wanted to, but did know that being with him forever was technically the closest Kakashi would get to admitting it.

Slowly, Naruto’s body relaxed and he stepped towards the door calmly, the weight of Kakashi on his back moving to linger uselessly at his side, very little space between them. He entered the passcode. The quiet swoosh of the door activating made his heart rate jump for a few seconds, but he actually jumped in surprise when a panicked Kiba stood in the doorway, red-clad finger hovering over the keypad. “Oh thank god! I thought you guys would be dead! I think I know how the… imposter is getting around quickly. I dropped my walkie talkie down a hole that definitely was not there a few days ago. Can one of you call a meeting?”

**Author's Note:**

> Who do you think the imposter will be? Comments about it and kudos appreciated <3  
> Come join my brand new discord server and talk anime with me... it's very lonely :( https://discord.gg/HTGYtsdmbQ


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